I've stayed at Hotel Casa Camper Berlin three or four times before and have always chosen to return based on my overall customer experience, including the hotel's original design aesthetic, room comfort, the breakfast offering and Tentempié bar (complimentary snacks + honesty pay bar) for hotel guests on the 7th floor. Since it opened in the 2010s it's marketed itself as an upmarket design hotel in a hip neighbourhood of Berlin. I've also enjoyed staying at its sister hotel, Casa Camper Barcelona.
On my return Casa Camper Berlin this trip (April 2025), "Bar Basta" has opened on the ground floor and is keen to attract the general public - additional revenue no doubt - but apparently at the expense of looking after the hotel's staying guests. This new ground floor restaurant is also where hotel guests must have their breakfast (i.e. no longer on the 7th floor, where it was enjoyable to watch the former friendly kitchen staff cook eggs and pancakes for you). In terms of breakfast now, the Bar Basta breakfast menu for hotel guests is different to the breakfast menu for people walking in off the street - fewer choices for hotel guests - and should be the subject for a separate review!
The Bar Basta restaurant team, I am told, now manages the hotel guests' 7th floor "lounge" - this is my third night here and the water machine has been broken on the last two nights, meaning I and other hotel guests can't get fresh filtered drinking water. Last night the coffee machine wasn't working for another guest, so I thought I'd have a tea instead - however, how was I to make tea when the hot water comes via the coffee machine? I haven't seen any staff (hotel or restaurant) here for the last three evenings.
Feels like there's something not quite right for Casa Camper hotel guests? You phone downstairs to the ground floor restaurant via a "dedicated phone" where the staff seem too busy serving Bar Basta diners to come and help hotel guests on the 7th floor. Also, there are hardly any snacks and drinks available in the "lounge" anymore without having to - you guessed it - phone downstairs to the ground floor restaurant to order something to be specially made and brought up (menu has disclaimer - these orders may take a while if the restaurant is busy, etc)!
On the 7th floor there were only tins of sardines (?!), small jars of sweets, and small bags of potato chips. There are meant to be olives (a sign said so) but they were not to be found. All snacks must be paid for, unlike when I stayed here before. The range of honesty pay bar drinks has also decreased - basic wine, soft drinks and only three bottles of spirits - whereas there used to be a fully stocked bar, making the 7th floor a real place to hang out in during the evening with other guests. Sadly, now, the 7th floor "lounge" feels like a dead space.
As I type my review from the "lounge", I watch the odd guest come in, look rather bemused at what they can actually have here, then leave empty handed. They certainly can't get a glass of drinking water right now, that's for sure. Times and businesses change, but I doubt I will want to return here again until hotel guests are better looked after on the food and drink front.